Kessie's Mega AU Anniversary Shorts
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: Four short stories written to celebrate the 5th year of Kessie's Mega Man AU. More details about the full celebration can be found on the Mega AU's Tumblr blog: search for another-megman-universe on Tumblr!
1. Classic and X eras: Future

In the future, they would all be safe.

There wasn't much that Mega Man could remember from his past. He had one, as Proto Man occasionally tried to hint at, but the memories never seemed to come. In the still of the dead nights that he could not sleep in, he would try so hard to force some old memory to come back to his recollections. It always felt like someone had erected an unbreakable wall or had sealed a box that prevented him from knowing just a second of truth.

There were no doubts on who had done such a thing, it was more of a why as far as Proto Man was concerned. Proto Man was concerned about many things and admittedly, Mega Man's past was among the least worrisome.

What did Mega know about his own past? The thought was always an uncomfortable one, but it was one of the most important too. First things first, his name was Rokku. The second most important thing; Roll was his sister.

Oh Roll… Oh poor, poor Roll…

Mega Man had seen what had happened to Roll, and he knew that the same thing happened to him. But with Roll it was worse- he knew what she was like before she underwent the transformation. He knew that she also had memories that she couldn't access, but unlike Mega Man, Roll didn't know she could access these memories if she tried. Roll didn't know that she had lived a different life before this current one. Proto Man made Mega Man swear that she never found out. And it wasn't because her life before was full of shame and regret- if anything, it was the opposite, and that only made the whole ordeal worse.

Proto Man at this point was either Mega Man's conscience or another person manipulating him for their own purpose. Mega really hoped that it was the former- of all the things he needed a friend. Maybe even a big brother that was always looking out for you. That was all he wanted anymore- someone to watch him and steer him in the right direction and just say "You're doing your best and I'm proud of you for making it this far." Whether or not Proto Man could pick up on this desperation was a matter of debate. They were still kids. They still needed someone to guide them. Who do you turn to when the only adults you remember and have to always be around continuously bicker to the point of harming others?

In the still of the cold, dead night, Mega Man allowed himself to take a deep breath in, then out. What happened in the past was in the past; what should matter now was the future. But what future could they have? What if Wiley and HIkari continued to pick fights until either one of them dropped dead? Even worse, what if they built machines as -if not more- sophisticated than Proto Man? Proto Man had freewill- what if the new machines did not? If they did, would they be able to look past their coding and come together as one?

Always the optimist, Mega Man hoped they could.

. . .

In the future, everything would change.

"You sick son of a bitch."

It was a phrase that Roll had become all too acquainted with ever since finding Hikari's last project. She had even managed to say it to his face three times before he died. Rest assured, three times was not enough. Then again, even if she had managed to curse in his face a hundred times over, it still would never be enough to make up for what he had done. Rokku may have been able to forgive Hikari in the end, but Roll swore to never forgive- forgetting would never _ever_ be an option either. Never. Again.

Finding 'Mega Man X' was like having your worst nightmare come true. Just the outer shell of this… creature sent numerous alarm bells in Roll's mind. It looked so… human. That dumb old fool even gave it the ability to breath while it slumbered in the containment pod. Or, more accurately, the ability to _look_ like it was breathing. Roll had even wondered -and feared- just how human-like Mega Man X was. She really hoped it couldn't reproduce. Please, please, _please_ let it not be able to reproduce!

The only thing Roll could change -could influence- was its personality. Remote adjustments to the way its positronic brain mad connections, a rigorous morality system, and perhaps a hidden code here or there just to let others know that Hikari had _not_ been the saint that all believed him to be. There was one other failsafe- a monster like the other but different in very subtle ways.

Well, there was one very important change, but it wouldn't come into play until after _it_ was activated.

"Are you still here?"

Completely surprised, Roll nearly jumped as he whipped her body around to see Kalinka. The human woman, now in her 30s, was pregnant again. Her fourth attempt.

"Jesus, Kalinka," Roll hissed, "You scared me." A few moments' pause before she cautiously added, "Shouldn't you be resting?"

Kalinka gave an amused snort, but found a seat on a nearby desk chair anyway. "How can I stay still when the anxiety of not knowing where my friend is will harm the baby more?"

"Kalinka..." the cyborg quietly chastised. Kalinka only offered a shrug, then looked at the hibernation pod.

"What are you doing to it now?" she questioned, giving a vague gesture in its direction, despite both of them knowing what she was referring too.

"I'm trying to induce a morality system before he can be activated." Roll explained. "It's harder than it needs to be because the process didn't even exist when the capsule was sealed."

Kalinka gave a solemn nod in agreement. She didn't actually know what Roll was doing, but trusted her judgement regardless.

"Hikari wanted this thing to be human, so it'll be raised like one." Roll went on. "This system will give it dreams that test what it is like to be human- the perfect human, even. It will be what Hikari wanted and far more above it."

"Wouldn't adding on to what Hikari wanted for that thing, instead of shutting it down, not make you any better than him?" Kalinka questioned before she really considered her words.

Roll didn't answer. She knew the answer, and the truth would always terrify her.

. . .

In the future, they were all together.

X would never consider himself much of a fidgeter, but just the mere thought of having Aero and Zero in the same room made him anxious. If it had been their first time meeting, the anxiety would have come from excitement and anticipation from having his two best friends meeting. But now? The two hated each other- for what X could never figure out, but it was nothing he could help them with either.

At least he could try to remind Aero to stay civil, but that was only because they lived together.

"How's my hair?" Aero questioned, giving herself a once-over in the mirror just as they were about to leave. "If we don't fix the flyaways now, Axl will later."

Why couldn't Aero have the same relationship with Zero like the one she had with Axl?

"Lemme see." X offered.

Once they were finally ready to go, the couple went on their way to the gala.

The Maverick Hunters held a charity gala once every other year on quasi-random dates to prevent Mavericks from crashing the party. Many Reploids just went in their armors, not even bother with stuffy suits or ball gowns that restricted the range of hand-to-hand melee attacks. There were some Reploids -like Axl- who would put on a clumsily made tie and say that they were dressed up, but it was always the humans that dressed so nice that they glittered under the lights just as well as the Reploids could.

"What do'ya figure Aero's wearin'?" Axl mused at some point while he and Zero waited for X and Aero. Zero gave a less than informative grunt that Axl only took as a sign to continue. "I hope it's that long green one that almost makes it look like she had boobs."

Again, Zero didn't have much to give in way of conversation. He could have cared less if Aero showed up tonight. If anything, the human needed to stay home- she's supposed to be dying anyway, right? Wouldn't taking her out speed along that process, or something?

"Oh no," Axl eventually cried in a tone that oozed fake pity, "She wore the red dress. Urg, that color just looks _bad_ on her. I mean, it looks fine on _you_ Zero, of course, but on Aero? It clashes with her hair."

The red legend gave a grunt -a sign of life!- before turning his direction to the newly arrived couple. He watched as X spotted them and helped get Aero through the crowd.

"I see you haven't died yet." Zero huffed once Aero was close enough.

"I see you're still a prick." Aero snorted back. "Wonderful."

X glanced between the two of them while Axl looked pretty amused at it all- this was the standard greeting between the red legend and the dying human anyway.

"Can I have everyone's attention!" Signas spoke from over the loudspeaker. Everyone silenced immediately, fearing the worst. "I'd like to thank everyone for coming out to our 8th annual Maverick Hunter gala," (a collective sigh resonated throughout the room) "And before we begin proper, may I propose a toast; to the future!"

"To the future!" the crowd eagerly agreed.


	2. Zero and ZX eras: Birthday

_Something_ about today felt different. The Pantheons didn't seem to notice- still charging at him steadfast in the wastelands between Neo Arcadia and other civilizations. But even with the distraction of the mindless drones, Zero couldn't help but shake the feeling that something important was meant to occur today.

The Pantheons stopped him from thinking most of the time; his body took on movements that only came naturally and nothing more. It was a pattern that he felt was far too comfortable, and he had no time or energy to consider why. While he moved autonomously, however, his mind would drift to past matters that shouldn't have mattered. Ciel, the Resistance, Neo Arcadia, the Four (now Three) Guardians…

_How long have I been doing this?_

The thought was sudden, almost intrusive. Did it matter how long he had been fighting the Pantheons?

_Not the Pantheons, your existence._ His thoughts corrected. _How long have you been alive?_

That thought was even more ridiculous than the previous one. Why did it matter how long he had been alive? Besides, the answer wasn't as simple as it looked; would you consider the start of his existence as the hero everyone believed him to be or the one they received? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember the 'original' Zero- that Zero was dead by now, as sure and definite as the sun still stubbornly shining in the sky. If one were to measure how long he had been in existence, then they should have started when he earned this body; the one Ciel found roughly four months ago and make him fight for the Resistance.

"But I don't know when that happened..." Zero mumbled to himself. It was this spoken thought that made him realize that his accuracy had been waning this entire time. He needed to place to rest, and quickly. Still mindlessly slashing any Pantheons that were dumb enough to be within his reach, Zero took notice of a burrow roughly 3 o'clock from his current position.

In a display of power he had kept of reserve until now, Zero plowed his way through the Pantheons and succeeded in reaching the burrow without any of them knowing where he went. Going as far into the burrow as he could, Zero finally stopped to rest. His sensors told him that the Pantheons had lost track of him for now; from past experience, he knew that they were going to take awhile to find him again. Not until they received orders from Neo Arcadia again, at least.

His body now able to rest, Zero's mind started to work overtime. What was so special about today again? He knew -he thought he knew- but the answer kept escaping him...

"It's my birthday." he marveled. He then gave himself a small smirk before adding, "What a crummy way of spending it."

Regardless, allowing his body to partially shut down for a bit to rest, he came back online to the sounds of the Pantheons entering the burrow.

"How nice of them to send a present." Zero mused as he started to get up. "Well, I suppose I can't look a gift horse in the mouth, now can I? Perhaps I should return the favor..."

And with that, Zero jumped right back into the fray.

. . .

There were many things Ciel had planned for her most recent project. The hair, the eyes, the smile, even his glasses were all because she had planned for them. And the day she wanted to activate him? Well, she had a date in mind (a very important, meaningful date), but she didn't want to rush through his creation like she had with Copy X just for the sake of meeting a certain date. Of course, the circumstances had been far more dire with Copy X. For this- for him? There wasn't much of a rush, just a thought that needed better explanation.

She didn't mean to make his existence seem similar to a guinea pig though- she did love him, honest. And it wasn't because he looked so much like Zero. By now, she had accepted that Zero wouldn't come back, even his Biometal was only a recreation of his will and not the real Zero in his entirety. A copy of a copy -one could say- with only the essentials. But even that definition didn't sound right. Even though most of her research nowadays was either on human-Reploid hybrids or the Biometals, she didn't really know much about either. That was why he was special. Sure, he could control a certain Biometal, but he wasn't going to be a Biometal himself. He wasn't even going to be a hybrid either- that choice was made the moment she realized he needed to exist. Besides the hybrid process took years; in one instance there were embryos that had been in gestation for over 40 years now…

"Hey sis?" Alouette's voice said through the intercom system, "Are you in there?"

Ciel had been so surprised by the sudden voice that she nearly made the wrong connection in his positronic brain. Giving herself a small chuckle, and him a small pat, Ciel put her tools away and went to answer her door.

"Hey Alouette." Ciel calmly greeted her Reploidic sister. "What's going on?"

Alouette seemed a bit surprised that Ciel had answered the door so quickly, but she quickly rebuffed it.

"I made you something in the kitchen." she told her.

Hearing this, Ciel gave a curious tilt of her head. "For what?" she then inquired. Alouette looked at her as if she had gone crazy.

"Just meet me in the kitchen." Alouette told her sister before taking off. Ciel raised a curious eyebrow before making sure everything was secure in the lab. Once everything checked out, she went to the kitchen.

There on one of the center lunch tables was a single sheet cake with the words 'Happy Birthday' clumsily written in icing. Awkwardly placed around the cake (and trying to avoid the words) were 40 little candles, all lit and ready to be blown out.

Ciel wasn't going to lie, she had forgotten that today was her birthday.

"Thanks for reminding me that I'm old, Alouette." Ciel teased.

"Sis..." she groaned, completely exasperated. "I worked all day on this cake. At least try it?"

"And let a good cake go to waste? Of course I will!"

Alouette let out a sigh of relief, put on a smile, and together the two unconventional sisters enjoyed Ciel's birthday cake.

. . .

He would never admit it around Juno, but Girouette was not a firm believer of celebrating birthdays for Reploids. For one thing, they never aged physically. That alone seemed to undermine the pure reason why humans had birthdays. But it didn't entirely mean that Reploids didn't grow in other ways, as it would be impossible for any sentient being not to. It still seemed odd, to him anyway, for Reploids to celebrate birthdays.

Juno, however, would take birthdays very seriously. At least when it came to him, Vent, and Sho- she would never forget their birthdays. If there was a certain friend she around elsewhere in Giro Express, she made sure that she would give them just a little something for their special day. Her gifts to Giro had become more… flirty since she came back. Not much of a surprise though, considering that they were now together. She could make him happy with just a single kiss, and she knew how to take full advantage of it on his birthday.

Today was going to start like any other- coffee in hand and a clipboard of outgoing and incoming packages for his transport company to deliver. Once every thirty minutes or so he would go around the company to make sure everyone was working as they should. Vent was helping a group with moving the packages from the loading dock to the sorting room, Sho was supervising some newer recruits with the handling of packages, and Juno was preparing her truck for a long day's trip around the inner city.

No one else would have noticed but him, but Juno's skirt was three inches shorter than usual. Of course it was. He might not have even noticed either if it wasn't for the way she insisted to swing her hips. Didn't she know that doing that was only going to make her back hurt? Besides, she was lifting packages of every size into the truck, all that purposeful swaying in attempt to get (and keep) his attention was only going to cause an accidental injury. Giro gave a small chuckle; what a beautiful, confusing, and confident little se-

"Hey Boss, we have a new order coming in."

Giro snapped out of his thoughts and turned to his employee (Margo, a human). And so the work day continued. The hours only seemed to move by as everyone worked their best. At the end of the day, most of the employees lingered behind in the upstairs common room for some cake and overly greasy pizza. What surprised Girouette the most was that several of his employees had decided to give him a gift, to which he gratefully thanked them all for.

Eventually -around the time the party was winding down- Vent came forward with a present of his own.

"Happy birthday Boss." the kid sheepishly said as he presented his gift at arm's length.

"You didn't have to give me a present Vent." Giro smiled, taking the gift anyway. The boy's face turned the faintest shade of pink before running in the opposite direction. Giro smiled and opened up the gift. The Reploid almost let out a small sound of surprise as he held up a picture of him, Vent, Juno, and Sho at Vent's own birthday the year prior, decorated in a handmade frame that must have taken the child a good afternoon to create.

Giro looked up and happened to catch Juno's gaze. The two smiled at each other before Giro looked back down at Vent's gift. Sure, he didn't personally believe that Reploids shouldn't celebrate birthdays, but it was nice to know that he was surrounded by loved ones.


	3. Legends and Xover eras: Legacy

Volnutt's fingers gently traced the etching in a sort of solemn reverence. Something told him that the pure white halls of Elysium should have been familiar, and maybe they were, but he had never felt so unsafe here than in earth's ruins. Something was just… off about this place. It almost felt like… like…?

It felt like someone had died.

With a harsh shudder, Volnutt quickly retracted his hand from the wall and back to his side.

"Remembering something?" a voice calmly asked from behind him. Volnutt let out a surprised squeak as he spun around to look at Sera. Or, at the moment, it was Sera is Yuna's body. The expression she gave him was emotionless, and it certainly did not look right on Yuna's face. Trying to shake off some of his stress, Volnutt gave a nervous chuckle- to which the Mother Unit gave an uninterested raise of her eyebrow. With a small huff of her own, Sera looked at the etching that Volnutt had been marveling over not that long ago.

"Do you remember this place at all?" she questioned.

"No… I don't think so." came the small answer. "But I feel… uneasy. Like I'm not meant to be here. Or something -someone- had left that made this place not feel so… so..."

"Dead?"

"Yeah..."

A small silence fell between the two of them as if in agreement. Their attentions being fully brought to the etching. It was a simple etching in the white walls; a tall figure that seemed to have planets flying around him as if they were revolving around him. The figure did not look happy, but he didn't look completely sad either. Somber. Somber was the correct word for it. To Trigger, the figure almost looked familiar some how. He couldn't place from where, nor could he figure out why when he had never seen anyone look like that figure before. Had he?

"Trigger," Sera whispered, almost in awe herself, in a tone that was just barely able to be heard, "Was… was the Master happy?"

Volnut looked at Sera in some confusion. She seemed to know this an explained;

"Was the Master happy when he… expired, Trigger?"

"I..." Volnut faltered, "I can't remember."

This didn't seem to satisfy the Mother Unit, allowing her to glare at him for a moment, but then realized he was right. He couldn't remember- that much had been proven as true quite some time back. What an inconvenience, and yet, Sera found herself envious of the defunct Purifier Unit. He had been the Master's favorite, he had been forced to forget the cold prison that was Elysium, and he had known a would outside of it. What would she have given to just forget everything and start anew like the stupid Purifier Unit...

"The Master's legacy can not be forgotten Trigger." Sera then told him in a dark voice. "Even… even if it means shutting down the System."

Volnutt then turned to Sera with a more than surprised look- what he saw was yet another blank face that only seemed out of place on the body it was on. The Master chose Volnutt for some reason, and Sera knew full well that it meant he was now the Master's legacy. She would not reveal it to anyone but Yuna, but Sera now knew that she was going to protect Volnutt just as the Master wanted her to.

. . .

"Thank you for meeting with me." Over told the Master in near monotone.

"I feel as though I didn't quite have a choice." he replied, mirroring Over's tone and giving the Reploid a wary side glance. All the Master knew about this mysterious stranger was that he was made with new-old technology and was able to completely override Elysium's security measures. At least one of those facts were incredibly worrying- but the absolute worse thought was that this stranger knew his name; his _real_ name.

"I see you've become aware of the Cyber Elf." Over then droned, pointing to the low hanging, blue silver plated locket around the Master's neck. Suddenly on the defensive, the Master recoiled and unconsciously placed a hand over said locket. The little creature inside had never done anything to the visitor- nothing that the Master was aware of, anyway. Over saw this and gave a little snicker. The Master would never be able to comprehend how much Over knew about the Cyber Elf, even in the time lines where he did decide to go further into the topic. But for now, it could wait.

"What do you know about her?" the Master demanded in a low, warning tone.

"I know far more about it than you believe I do, Soner." Over mused, using the Master's name purposely and deliberately. "I know what she told you, and I know that you plan to follow it through."

"And is that why you're here? To stop me?"

"Quite naturally, I was going to encourage you."

In hearing this, the Master raised a very intrigued eyebrow. Knowing that he was going to be heard now, Over gave a satisfied smirk of his own.

"You see Soner, the Elf was not lying to you when it said that you must die before the System can be shut down. In fact, your death is a constant in this worldline no matter what happens to the System, or Elysium, or even whatever goes down on Terra."

"Are you saying that the System _can't_ be shut down?"

"It is a variable," Over admitted with a careless roll of his shoulder, "Very rarely a constant."

"Regardless," the Reploid then went on, "While Juno and Vent's preparations were actually well thought out, they are not completely fool proof either. I'm sure you're aware by now that the System can forge or erase certain memories- yes?"

The Master recoiled. "Yes," he agreed, "I'm aware."

"I know what the System didn't want Juno and Vent to know, Soner. But how far we go on those plans is completely up to you- along with how hard you are willing to fight against the System. It won't be a pretty process, I could never lie about that; and by the time we are done, you may just as well be wishing that you could die."

"Is it really that difficult?" the Master questioned, both horrified and more determined than ever to shut the System down.

"It's all up to you Soner," Over told him in a dark voice, "It's all up to you."

. . .

At this point, everything hurt- which meant that he only had minutes before implosion. Nothing could have mattered to him anymore; he had faced his demons and most of them won, there were things he could have said to her, but he knew that there were other time lines when he would, and his artificial nervous system shut down who-knows-when, leaving him in enough pain to almost feel numb instead.

This timeline started with a single decision: Thomas T. Hikari decided to pursue a career in robotics than in programming. Through circumstances that are only a constant in this timeline, his family was lost to a freak fire and the man was left to his own grief. This grief blinded him from seeing that he was corrupting the futures of two youths and the creation of one far more advanced for the time.

Then as Hikari could feel his mortal coil grow shorter, he built a machine that did not know whether it was human or not. There were some interventions made to this machine's construction, and they were arguably the best choice for a machine so complicated that even now, where that technology no longer existed, no one knew how to replicate it. When the machine woke up, he met Aero (Aero… my sweet Aero, I should have done something. I should have said something. I could have done anything than just…) and the two would share a bond far closer than what he could ever reach.

But that left out the Red Legend- forced to fight against a world created for peace but fell to jealousy and failed copies. He had talked to her ghost then -more than enough to almost make up for his silence to her original counterpart- and had bared his soul for repentance. She forgave him, but not Weil. It did not matter if anyone but a select few knew what he had done to Aero; no one would be able to forgive Weil while Neo Arcadia fell.

The next era was a good reminder that bad apples hardly ever fell far from the tree. Marvelous creatures that were raised completely different, yet could almost mirror each other without knowing, were born onto the world. Some times, even adults knew that they were vulnerable creatures that could do nothing but sit and watch the world burn.

This last era, everything was doomed to expire. The humans on earth were gone, and the sanctuary they had made was vacant as well. Their replicas knew nothing about their pasts, or where they had come from, but they built up their own societies with problems that only seemed to repeat previous actions. They did not get too far when the last human, Soner, passed away in an attempt to kill off the very thing that kept their universe in check. He had some good morals, and he had been helped, but the time lines are very shaky things that allowed even the best laid plans to rarely work out.

He could feel the pressure now. Any second, and this time line would be over. In his last breath, only one sentence would and ever could escape his lips; "Aero… I love you."


	4. BN and SF eras: Kindness

In the afternoon, Chaud Blaze always found the opportunity to go train with Protoman- it had been a part of his schedule for as long as he had been working with his father. That did not mean it stopped others from trying to get his attention. Case and point was his current personal assistant Kassandra -a woman in her mid 30s with a soft voice and an eye that always looked at his worryingly- as she jogged over in an attempt to catch up to him.

"Mister Blase, you have an appointment at 2 o'clock with the head of Cossack Research Enterprises." she said, slightly out of breath as the two kept walking down the hallway.

"Understood." Chaud agreed. "How long is the estimated time for the meeting?"

"Roughly an hour and thirty minutes, sir."

"What appointments do I have after?"

"You are to head to quality control to review the daily percentiles around 5. I tried my best to keep the extra hour and a half free, as per your instruction."

"Good." Chaud nodded. "Mikhail is starting to ramble about his family life. I find it quite rude to just tell him to shut up, you follow?"

"Of course sir."

The two rounded the corner to Chaud's personal NetOp training arena and continued down the hallway.

"Sir," Kassandra remarked, "Have you had anything to eat all day?"

Chaud flashed his assistant a hard, quick side glance. She had never asked or questioned his personal health before. _None_ of his personal assistants had asked about his personal health before, come to think of it.

"No," he found himself admitting. "I don't think I have."

"Not even for breakfast?"

Now at the door to his training room, Chaud finally turned to face his assistant proper.

"Ms Kassandra," he then said in a serious tone, "You were not hired to become my mother- your job is to schedule my appointments and ensure that they are kept. Are we clear?"

"Y-yes sir." Kassandra agreed, her face starting to flush a light pink. "I was only curious, that was all."

Chaud gave a rather harsh scoff in return. But then, going back to a previous thought, realized that she had likely meant well. Hating himself a bit for even bothering to request it, he then said to her,

"Could you grab a meal for me from the staff break room? I believe we serve bento lunches on Mondays."

Kassandra looked at Chaud in surprise before remembering her duty. "Yes sir." she agreed with a small bow. The assistant then quickly left Chaud on his own. Good; he wasn't fond of having people watch him when he trained.

"Why did she want to know your eating habits?" Protoman inquired just as the two were about to start training.

"I'm not sure." Chaud admitted. "Having someone actually care about me is as absurd a thought as purposely letting the company go under."

"And yet, you're not completely opposed to the idea?"

Chaud considered the idea for a moment before giving a sly side smirk.

"I guess I'm not." he marveled while giving a snort. "I suppose I would allow that Protoman- but just this once."

. . .

Call Kelvin Stelar an old soul, but he was rather confident that people still used NetNavis along with the BrotherBand system. It's not like their technology was that old, or anything. If anything, NetNavis were as relevant now as they were 75 years ago- serving as digital personal shoppers, an assistant to help the more stuffed suit classes to remember their appointments, and still able to provide hours of entertainment to the younger crowd. Their free will intelligence, on the other hand, had received much of a downgrade.

Except for one.

"Kelvin Daigo Stelar, I hope you understand how stupid this plan is."

"Thanks for your sincere vote of confidence, Megaman."

The blue Navi gave an indignant huff as he folded his arms together. The Navi had gone through a lot during the years before coming into the Stelar household. Being called on to by Kelvin had been a surprise, but the human was also one who liked to say his plans out loud just as he thought them through. Were they bright ideas? No, not usually, but there were still interesting all the same.

"Kelvin," the Navi then tried to argue, "It would be impossible for two planets to form a BrotherBand with each other. Earth is made out of solid rock, and by the previous calculations we gathered, this new planet is nothing but pure energy."

Kelvin gave an amused little scoff. "Sure, it might seem that way," he started to tell the Navi, who still wasn't buying it, "But the EM waves surrounding Earth all but rival those of the new planet. If anything, this new planet almost seemed to have energy readings that indicate that they started from Earth before evolving deeper. A BrotherBand could work between the planets, we just need a large enough satellite to act as a Transer between our world and theirs."

"I can't believe Hope is Lan's grandkid." Megaman huffed. "You're so reckless, it's almost a spinning image!"

"I like the word 'determined' better." Kelvin chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Besides, think about how the aliens are going to feel when you send them EM waves that make up their entire world, Kelvin." Megaman went on, making sure that Kelvin knew full well the ramifications of what he was about to do. "Have you considered that they could see it as a threat?"

"I just want to show the aliens an act of kindness," Kelvin insisted, possibly ignoring the Navi a bit, "Offer an olive branch, so to speak, so that our planets could further learn off each other. Perhaps we have a more similar background that we realize, and a BrotherBand would be the best way to know it!"

"Hmm-mm." Megaman huffed, folding his arms in a stubborn defiance. "And how are _they_ supposed to know that? What with you sending an unverified transmission by their standards, for all we know? Not even _our_ government takes to those kind of things lightly, Kelvin."

"We'll send out a signal that states our intentions." the human easily suggested. "I'll make sure that it is able to reach their communications systems without interruption. It'll work out fine Megaman, trust me!"

But the Navi could do nothing but worry. At this point Kelvin was so set on this idea that he could not be stopped; being Lan Hikari's NetNavi had given him enough insight on _that_ certainty. Megaman did hope it could work out, if only for Hope's sake.

. . .

Today was a day where Geo just couldn't force himself out of bed. The energy just… didn't seem to be there. He didn't want to go back to sleep either, but the pure oblivion of doing so seemed more welcoming than embracing the cold world outside his bed covers.

Hope seemed to be able to pick up on this when he didn't come to breakfast. So, as the good mother she was would do, she brought up his breakfast to him, reminded him to get in the shower, told him that she loved him so very, very much, and then left him to his own devices. Seeing all this play out made Warrock less than pleased. He was a living ball of energy for crying out loud! He NEEDED to go out and explore the world!

"Come on Geo, get out of bed." Warrock groaned. "Let's go somewhere. Maybe see a concert or something, I dunno, but anything would be better than staying here!"

The human kid let out a small groan and proceeded to remain in bed. Starting to get annoyed, Warrock continued to persist.

"You need to get up and do something Geo. What is so appealing about that stupid bed that you can't even make yourself get off of it?"

There was a small silence before Geo mumbled something that Warrock didn't quite catch. Maybe something about it not being the bed? Regardless, Warrock was annoyed now, and so he left Geo's Transer to look the kid over in person.

"Get up Geo!" the EM Being demanded, moving to a spot that he could shove the kid off his own bed. "Get. UP!"

"Warrock, stop." Geo softly argued as the alien did its best to push him. But Warrock kept pushing, almost being able to get the kid off…

"STOP!" Geo screamed, scaring Warrock enough to nearly jump back into space. A few moments of a still silence so Geo could collect himself, the kid then said, "I feel sick Warrock. Leave me alone. Please."

Knowing that being 'sick' wasn't what was stopping Geo from getting up, and that they could be at this all day, Warrock then came up with another idea. The EM Being worked its way to the large window next to Geo's bed and dimmed it to the point that no light could come through. He then went over to the holographic globe by Geo's telescope and changed the program to give a projection of the night sky. (Geo, who had wondered if he had actually slept the day away when Warrock blocked the window, carefully peeked out of his covers now to see what the EM Being was doing.) With this done, Warrock looked around the room with a bit of pride for himself, but something was still missing.

Giving a snap of his fingers when the thought came to him, Warrock quickly glided down to Geo's computer. A few clumsy keystrokes later and a white noise ambient started to play from the computer's speakers. Now looking around the room, Warrock found himself satisfied enough to return to Geo's Transer without anymore fuss.

Geo looked around his room with a small, partially broken smile. At least Warrock had tried, right? Not that Geo was worth it or anything…

"H-hey Warrock?" Geo then said to his Transer.

"Yep?"

"Thank you."


End file.
